Why custom textbooks are definitely not the “cheaper” option

And alternate options for profs and students

For the uninitiated, custom textbooks are textbooks that are “Frankensteined” (compiled) from portions of other textbooks in partnership between your university or college and original publishers. This is different from course-packs, which are relatively original content created by professors and teaching assistants and published by the university or college publishers.

They’re often pitched as the “cheaper” option. In reality, the custom textbook that was made mandatory for this class became one of the priciest textbooks I have purchased in the entire duration of my undergraduate degree.

Custom textbooks are supposed to be cheaper ($200) when compared to the cost of purchasing multiple mandatory textbooks ($150 + $150).

The downfall of this reasoning comes from assuming that students only buy new textbooks.

1. You can’t buy a custom textbook second-hand

Sure, you can buy the two textbooks second-hand, but remember that unless your professor included the original chapter and page numbers, you will need to spend your precious, finite life hours trying to figure out where the assigned readings actually are.

If your professor has already assigned a custom textbook, this might be the wisest, budget-friendly option. However, this disproportionately means that students in poverty are expected to take on additional labour. It’s such an assumption, an expectation even, that if you don’t have the money for something that you just haven’t tried hard enough, worked enough hours, lost enough hours of sleep, taken up enough side hustles. When I’ve raised this point, I’ve been reminded several times that:

If you can’t afford education then maybe you shouldn’t go to university or college.

I see two interpretations in this statement. The first is the commentary that university or college isn’t the only way to build a successful career, and I agree with that. It shouldn’t be considered the default post-secondary option.

The other subtext I see in this is that even if you are intentionally seeking undergraduate education because it does build the career you want, but you have less access to money and need to be creative about your budget, that you don’t deserve to be in post-secondary education.

I see repeatedly this narrative that equates “having money” and “having an expected $$ saved up for education” as measures of effort and hard work. For example, equating the GREs as a measure of “initiative” and “planning/organization” rather than addressing that its a barrier for various groups in accessing post-graduate education.

That’s not the whole story. I am working as much as I can, running a side hustle, and I had to be creative with my budget and look into second-hand books.

So because this was a newly hired professor who entirely redesigned the curriculum for this course, I was forced to buy this textbook at the full $200 price tag. Also, because she thought it would be “hip” to include online modules for homework practice, she bundled this online login with the textbook, so you couldn’t purchase it separately.

I held on to the hope that even though I couldn’t buy it second-hand, that I could at least sell it again. [ Cue sinister music ]

2. You can’t sell a custom textbook second-hand if they never use the textbook again

In the most amazing (and tragique) turn of events, I didn’t get to sell this textbook either. The year after she redesigned this course, this professor went on maternity leave for several years. I graduated and left the city before she returned and I’m not even sure if she went back to the custom textbook format.

The other professor certainly did not.

I could not sell this custom textbook that wasn’t used at my school, nor any other school in the city.

Its only value to me now is as an overpriced,$200 monitor stand.*

To professors in the position of designating textbooks

• Choose ones offered in both paperback and hardcover options.
• Choose one textbook. Unless multiple textbooks offer substantially more educational value than the one textbook, please consider how your choice will disproportionately affect students in poverty. With minimum wage at $15/hour, for example, a student has to work a full 7-hour shift to afford that additional $100 textbook. Is the additional educational value worth that much? Or can it be substituted by journal articles available free through the school library subscription?
• Stop with the custom textbooks.

*a tangent, a life hack: before the pandemic lockdown hit, I somehow was fortunate enough to have locked down a cheap ($40!) second monitor whose sole purpose is to display my to do list and pomodoro as I was working, so I would have to stop splitting my screen. Also, to display my long-distance boyfriend’s face so that I could watch tv full screen, what a luxury!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I just want to say, if you need a monitor stand to elevate your second monitor so that your primary monitor doesn’t cover the subtitles of the second one, old textbooks work so wonderfully for this purpose.

Lucy (The Egg Girl) is good at keeping second-hand textbooks in pristine condition so she can fetch a good selling price for them the following year. She also sold summary textbook and class notes to students who only wanted to read the short version of the course to be crammed — to afford the remaining cost of textbooks. Stay tuned for more frugal life hack tips!

What’s your next adventure? 🐇

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